Despite the title, there are humans everywhere in After Us. They fill the game's urban and industrial wastelands from end to end - a race of petrified, naked giants, trapped in an endless pilgrimage through the world they've destroyed. Strewn along the game's critical path, usually travelling in the same direction as you, they give this allegorical third-person platformer a distinct emotional cadence. There's dread as you approach each ogre from behind: their stooped silhouettes recall both Attack On Titan and the work of Francisco Goya, and not all are inanimate. But then you pass by, spin the camera and see, well, people: old, young, thin, fat, male- or female-presenting though devoid of genitalia, their faces riven by yearning and despair.
The landscapes themselves are sumptuous but not mind-blowing. Ranging from weedy underwater skyscrapers to hills of TV screens that double as teleporters, they could be spaces from any number of videogame apocalypse fables. But the presence of the humans is transformative, in that exploration becomes an unpacking of mixed feelings towards characters who are portrayed as both “Devourers” and victims of their own appetites. It’s hard not to marvel at them, even as you scour each linear but roomy biome for the ghosts of the animals they’ve driven to extinction. “We want to explore that grey zone in which we are, at the same time, agents of destruction but we can write the most beautiful poetry,” says Alexis Corominas, game director. “That’s who we are. We kill for pleasure, as a species. And at the same time, we make music.”
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
NO MORE ROOM IN HELL 2
You're not alone in the dark
WINDBLOWN
Life after Dead Cells
COLLECTED WORKS - JOSH SAWYER
Journeying to the Forgotten Realms, Infinity and beyond with the RPG veteran
SCREENBOUND
Going deep in a mind-bending hybrid of perspectives
Trigger Happy
Shoot first, ask questions later
Grand strategist
Paradox's Mattias Lilja addresses the publisher's recent difficulties - and the plan to right the ship
Diablo IV
A progress report on the games we just can't quit
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection
In Capcom's diabolical tribute, evil goes far deeper than the demons on the screen
SERENITY FORGE
How a near-death experience lit a fire in the Colorado-based developer and publisher
THE MAKING OF...ALIEN: ISOLATION
How a strategy-led studio built a survival horror masterpiece in Ridley Scott's image